Politics will not affect Christmas cava sales, say small and medium producers

The employer’s association of small and medium producers of cava, PIMECAVA, has no fears that the current political situation will affect sales over the Christmas period.

According to the PIMECAVA president, Xavier Nadal, says that “the smart consumer knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff,” and that there has been no “significant impact” on sales in the key period of the year, when people raise a glass and make a toast for a happy yuletide.

Nadal had previously warned on October 10 that a unilateral declaration of independence “could affect the cava sector, consumption and the economy in general.”

However, in the first six months of the year, sales increased by 6% compared to the same period last year. Premium Cava, specifically, has enjoyed a 17% rise in sales.

Increasing foreign exports

Small and medium producers of cava are also exporting more, something Nadal described as “great news."

As an example, he pointed out that the number of companies exporting to a significant market such as in Germany has risen from 58 to 90 in recent years and that this trend is continuing. Exports to Japan and Sweden have also increased.

PIMECAVA was set up in 2006 and represents a 240 associated cava producing companies in Catalonia.

Conflicting points of view

Meanwhile, the president of Freixenet, one of the larger producers of cava in the region, attributed a fall in sales in October to the political situation, and not to a boycott of Catalan products. Josep Lluís Bonet called on Catalans to vote for parties in the December 21 election that will recover “constitutional and statutory path.”